WASHINGTON — Negotiations to add extra health care policies to Congress’ stopgap funding bill fell apart late last week, five sources told STAT. The provisions at issue included a bump to physicians’ Medicare pay rates and efforts to increase funding for community health centers and enact some behavioral health policies.
When lawmakers were negotiating a deal to extend government funding until March, congressional leaders were also considering attaching new health care spending items to the package that hadn’t been included in prior short-term funding bills. Those are the talks that ultimately broke down, said a congressional aide, two lobbyists, and a health care industry source. Lawmakers decided instead to simply extend policies that had already been included in prior bills.
The breakdown isn’t final — talks are expected to continue, now that lawmakers are likely to extend government funding deadlines to March. But the tenor of the discussions offers hints about Democrats’ and Republicans’ health priorities heading into those bigger negotiations. The government funding package is likely the only vehicle for new health care policy ahead of the 2024 election.